Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cats can get Anaplasma and Lyme disease from wild black-legged ticks
By Lappin, Michael R et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2015·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Evidence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi infection in cats after exposure to wild-caught adult Ixodes scapularis.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Four healthy cats were exposed to wild-caught black-legged ticks and later tested for infections caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi. Initially, all cats showed no signs of infection, but after being infested with ticks for a week, the blood tests revealed the presence of Anaplasma DNA and antibodies against both infections. This suggests that even if a cat appears healthy and tests negative for these infections, they could still be infected after a tick bite. If your cat shows signs of illness after being around ticks, a PCR test may be helpful for diagnosis.
People also search for: cat tick bite symptoms · cat anaplasmosis treatment · how to test for Lyme disease in cats
Abstract
Cats are infected by Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi when exposed to infected Ixodes scapularis (black-legged ticks). The purpose of our study was to allow wild-caught I. scapularis to feed on healthy research cats (n = 4) and temporally evaluate for A. phagocytophilum DNA in blood by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay as well as for antibody responses to the B. burgdorferi C6 peptide, to the A. phagocytophilum P44 peptide, and to a novel A. phagocytophilum peptide (P44-4). Prior to I. scapularis infestation, all cats were negative for antibodies against both organisms based on a kit optimized for dog serum, and negative for A. phagocytophilum DNA in blood using a conventional PCR assay. Using the pre-infestation samples, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detecting antibodies against the P44-4 peptide was optimized. Cats were infested with wild-caught I. scapularis for 7 days. Genomic DNA of A. phagocytophilum was amplified from the blood before antibodies were detected in all 4 cats. Antibodies against the C6 peptide, P44 peptide, and P44-4 peptide were detected in the sera of all 4 cats. Antibodies against P44-4 were detected prior to those against P44 in 3 out of 4 cats. The results suggest that a PCR assay should be considered in acutely ill cats with suspected anaplasmosis that are seronegative.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26179101/